This research assignment has been pretty interesting as far as information goes and I am glad that I wasn’t born in Iran. The struggles that women there are disturbing but I am glad that they are fighting for so rights and have made some progress with it. Researching and writing this paper is like stepping into a new world and trying to imagine yourself there. The writing process is a little hard for me because I have a bad outlook on how Iran treats their women and I am trying to be fair for the paper. I did a similar paper on Egypt and their traditions and the way they treat their women are about the same. I just can’t imagine being treated as property and having to cover myself all the time in public. The direction of my paper, of course, is about how awful women are treated in Iran at the mercy of men. I was kind of shock to hear the marrying age is 13. That is way too young; the poor girl is traumatized and repeatedly raped most of the time. It makes me sad to read the stories and statistics of teenagers killed in honor killings by their own father or grandfather. I read one story that a woman wanted a divorce from her abusive husband and her mother called her to meet her at the lawyer’s office and a male companion of the mother’s shot her. The mother’s reasoning was that her daughter brought shame to the family by wanted a divorce. The mother and the shooter were not punished legally. Honor killings are a family issue not a judicial matter. For that reason alone, I would be scared to live there. Can you imagine how the women must feel there? I bet they are always looking behind their backs and making sure that all their family members are happy with them. Well I think the most important thing that I learned from this paper is that everyone and every place is different and moves in their own pace. Iran has moved forward and backwards in the issue of women rights. I don’t think every place should be like us in America, westernized, but I do think it is very extremely important for everyone and everyplace to have human rights, not necessarily gender based. The right to be treated fairly as a human being, the idea that human life is valued and not taken for granted or abused. Although I was late getting started on this project and I encountered a lot of headaches, I am glad it was assigned because it opened my eyes to a different kind of world, in a way put it right in my doorstep. It brought to me a new perspective on life and how sometimes I take for granted what I have and how I was raised. It is great to be living in America and cherish the ones you love. Hope you all learned something also from this project!
I think too it should be a caution to us to guard the freedoms here. Iran had freedoms and lost the, so did Russia. We think it can't happen here, but with the "right" people in power and an uninformed and acquiescent public, who knows. Rome never thought they would fall either. Gives one pause . . .
ReplyDeleteI also did my research project on women’s rights in Iran and it is just appalling and unimaginable how women are treated there. The current legal age for marriage is thirteen for girls but at several times it has actually been nine years old! How sick is that? These girls have their childhoods stolen from them.
ReplyDeleteSome of the other areas that I found extreme inequalities in were in divorce rights, child custody rights, women not being able to choose what they want to study, and employment rights to name a few. The hijab or veiling that women are required to wear even needs to be held together at the chin to prevent women from being able to work freely with two hands. A woman’s testimony is only worth half as much as a man’s. One of the most alarming things I read about was in the rules of stoning a person. Men are only buried up to their waist but women are buried up to their shoulders. The idea behind this is that if a person survives the stoning, they can unbury themselves but there would be little chance of a woman being able to do that with her hands buried under the ground. If “blood money” is paid to a victim’s family in a murder case, it is twice as much for a man than it is for a woman.
I got a late start on my research paper too but I was glad I learned the things I did about women’s rights in Iran. I also learned a lot while writing this paper and others throughout the semester about improving my writing. I’m glad the paper’s done though!
It is very interesting to learn about issue some people face. It is sad that women are valued so little and have absurd rules placed upon them. Living in America, we grow up treating women equally to men but in some countries, that is not the case.
ReplyDeleteIt is a said story to hear about honor killings and almost unbelievable. We also take the right to get a divorce for granted but we have learned that it is not always the case. If the husband wants out it is easy but for the wife, divorce in Iran can be almost impossible. It is also hard to believe they allow women as young as thirteen to get married. It just seems that some much development still has to occur before one is ready for such a major commitment.
Forcing women to have certain dress standards is also crazy. In Iran, women are not allowed to express there looks and be different. The government tries to limit the expressions of women in there choice of dress. How sad this is in today's modern age.